“Give the gun to Ian or any of the others. I don’t care,” I said, my voice slow and even. “Just leave the boy out of this.”

Jeb’s sudden face-wide grin reminded me, strangely, of a pouncing cat.

“It’s my house, kid, and I’ll do what I want. I always do.”

Jeb turned his back and ambled away down the hall, whistling as he went. I watched him go, my mouth hanging open. When he disappeared, I turned to Jamie, who was watching me with a sullen expression.

“I’m not a child,” he muttered in a deeper tone than usual, his chin jutting out belligerently. “Now, you should… you should go in your room.”

The order was less than severe, but there was nothing else I could do. I’d lost this disagreement by a large margin.

I sat down with my back against the rock that formed one side of the cave opening—the side where I could hide behind the half-opened screen but still watch Jamie. I wrapped my arms around my legs and began doing what I knew I would be doing as long as this insane situation continued: I worried.

I also strained my eyes and ears for some sound of approach, to be ready. No matter what Jeb said, I would prevent anyone from challenging Jamie’s guard. I would give myself up before they asked.

Yes, Melanie agreed succinctly.

Jamie stood in the hallway for a few minutes, the gun tight in his hands, unsure as to how to do his job. He started pacing after that, back and forth in front of the screen, but he seemed to feel silly after a couple of passes. Then he sat down on the floor beside the open end of the screen. The gun eventually settled on his folded legs, and his chin into his cupped hands. After a long time, he sighed. Guard duty was not as exciting as he’d been expecting.

I did not get bored watching him.

After maybe an hour or two, he started looking at me again, flickering glances. His lips opened a few times, and then he thought better of whatever he was going to say.

I laid my chin on my knees and waited as he struggled. My patience was rewarded.

“That planet you were coming from before you were in Melanie,” he finally said. “What was it like there? Was it like here?”

The direction of his thoughts caught me off guard. “No,” I said. With only Jamie here, it felt right to speak normally instead of whispering. “No, it was very different.”

“Will you tell me what it was like?” he asked, cocking his head to one side the way he used to when he was really interested in one of Melanie’s bedtime stories.

So I told him.